Frederick Joseph Ricketts was born February 21, 1881, on the East Side of London. His father was a coal merchant. He died when Joe (that's what everyone called him) was seven. Joe was the fourth of five children of Robert Ricketts and his wife Louisa (née Alford). Louisa died when Joe was 14. It was then that he decided he wanted to be in a military band. He had gotten some musical training at his church, which involved singing and piano lessons.
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Joe enlisted in the British Army in 1895. Boys could enlist at ages 14-21 in jobs that included musician (bandsmen), drummers (regimental/attached to an infantry unit), tailors, shoemakers, artificers (more or less, "inventors" of deadly weapons for the artillery), and clerks. For some odd reason, Joe lied about his age, stating that he was born March 5, 1880, but he was legal age for service when he joined up with the band of the Royal Irish Regiment. Since this date was given as his birthdate for all the time he was with the Army, it is possible that this was a clerical error. As part of his training, he studied the cornet, as this was the instrument that was needed when he joined. Within five months he played the cornet well enough to play with the band. He was well liked and eager to learn new things. In his free time he took it upon himself to learn how to play every instrument in the band. When he was 15 (in 1896) he wrote his first march, For Foreign Service. It was never published.
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The Royal Irish Regiment was posted in London upon his enlistment and every two years was at a new post. After leaving London, the band moved to Limerick, Ireland, and next they went somewhere out in the middle of nowhere in India. In 1903, the Commanding Officer of the Royal Irish Regiment and his bandmaster, Warrant Officer J. Phillips recommended that Joe take the Bandmaster Course at the Royal Military School of Music in Twickenham, Middlesex (Kneller Hall). Very few bandsmen got in at such an early age.
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The Bandmaster Course included lessons in harmony, counterpoint, instrumentation, musicianship, composition, and arranging. Each student had to learn five woodwind instruments and five brass instruments. The course lasted for two years: The teachers for the first year were members of the faculty of the Royal Military School of Music. In the second year professors from the Royal College of Music taught additional skills including arranging, composition, conducting, and church music (learning how to compose for the organ). There were all kinds of competitions but Joe didn't win the march composition competition. The winner was W.V Richards and the march was Namur. Some historians believe that Joe wrote this for Mr. Richards as some sort of favor. It has all the hallmarks of a Kenneth J. Alford march.
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Joe excelled at Kneller Hall but he did not get an appointment to a field band for two years. During the meantime, hes served as chapel organist and school bandmaster (this position wasn't formalized until 1949).
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In 1908, Joe was sent to South Africa to command the Second Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. It was during this time he felt a need to compose marches. His first successful march was The Thin Red Line, which his band played often. It was not published until 1925. Although it wasn't illegal, it was frowned upon for British Army officers to engage in civilian commercial pursuits. It was deemed necessary for him to make a nom de plume, so Kenneth Joseph Alford was born in late 1910. How he came up with the name: Kenneth was the name of his oldest son (his only child until 1913); he kept Joseph from is own middle name; and Alford was his mother's maiden name. The first march composed under this new name was Quick March Hollyrood in 1911. His band was posted in Edinburgh and Hollyroodhouse was the Scottish residence of the reigning monarch. The Hollyrood march was given its premiere when King George V and Queen Mary came to visit in July 1911 during their coronation year. It was published in 1912.
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During World War I, the adult members of his band were posted to war service as stretcher bearers. Joe and the band boys remained in Edinburgh for the duration of the war.
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He remained with the Second Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders until 1927, his successor being Charles Smart Beat. Over 15,000 attended Joe's farewell concert.
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Joe transferred to the Royal British Navy and was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Marines. He was first posted to the Royal Marine Depot, at Deal. While this doesn't seem high for the number of years service Joe gave to the British Army, they hadn't promoted him for the 19 years he led his one Army band. For all that time he was a Warrant Officer Class 1. In 1930, he was sent to the Band of the Plymouth Division, Royal Marines, which was the premiere band of the Royal Navy. It was here that Joe would spend the rest of his career and most of the rest of his life. He retired as a major in 1944, leaving the service due to health reasons. He died at his home in Reigate, Surrey, May 15, 1944, at the age of 64 from lung cancer.
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He married his wife, Annie Louisa Holmes in 1907. Known as Nan, she was an excellent musician in her own right, being a very talented pianist. Nan met Joe at a sheet music shop in London. They had six children.
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